Among The Dragon Lines

Antigo

BMW’s contact/fixer/bartender Felipe Pérola de Rosário owns this joint, an old-style tavern in the Nam and Sai Lakes area of Macao. Taking its stylistic cues from the brothels and opium dens of late ninteenth-century Macao, this lounge is dim and raucous. Visual zingers abound: a glass case displays opium pipes, Tibetan penis fertility symbols, vintage black-and-white photos of naked call-girls, and pin-up posters in addition to pictures of the town during and after the titular 1874 typhoon. Ornate, bamboo-carved candelabras dot the red walls, and red lanterns cling to the pressed tin ceiling.

Of course, a bar is nothing without its patrons, and Antigo is always packed with runners waiting to get noticed by that special Johnson. There is a complicated system whereby Felipe will send a certain drink to hopefuls when they possess the right skills for a particular job, and then he will facilitate some conversation between the two parties. Word is, this pays better than the tips for ol’ Felipe.